Everything in my life began from here: Mamata after filing nomination for Bhabanipur seat
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday filed her nomination papers as the TMC candidate for the Bhabanipur assembly seat, and said everything in her life began from here.
Amid a sea of supporters raising slogans of 'Mamata Banerjee zindabad' and 'TMC zindabad', Banerjee led a roadshow from her Kalighat residence to the Alipore Survey Building, where she filed the nomination papers.
She walked nearly 800 metres with folded hands and her trademark smile, greeting party workers lined up on both sides of the road.
"I was born and brought up here in Bhabanipur only. Everything in my life began from here," Banerjee told reporters after filing her nomination papers.
Seeking support for the TMC beyond the Bhabanipur contest, she said, "I would appeal to the people, not just in Bhabanipur but across all 294 seats, to ensure the victory of our candidates. We will win with a bigger mandate."
The TMC had won 213 seats in the 2021 assembly polls.
Banerjee, however, expressed concern over the deletion of names from the electoral rolls and said her party would again move a court against the freezing of the voter list.
"I am really pained that so many names have been deleted from the electoral rolls. I fail to understand why the voter lists have been frozen. We will again move a court against it," Banerjee added.
The three-time MLA from Bhabanipur is set to take on BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari in the high-profile contest.
Those who accompanied her during the nomination filing included Rubi Hakim, wife of Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, TMC block president of Ward 71 Bablu Singh and Miraj Shah of the Bhabanipur Education Society.
Her family members also accompanied her.
The TMC projected Banerjee's roadshow and nomination filing as a message of Bengal's pluralist ethos in Bhabanipur, a constituency where Gujarati businessmen, Bengali families, Punjabi households and Muslim residents have lived side by side for decades.
The ruling party sought to portray Bhabanipur as a "mini-India" and a symbol of West Bengal's inclusive identity.
The elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly will be held in two phases - on April 23 and 29. Votes will be counted on May 4.
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PM must clarify whether he endorses Sarma's 'utterly shameful' remarks on Kharge: Priyanka
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New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said the use of "abusive" language by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma against Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is "utterly shameful" and added Prime Minister Narendra Modi must clarify whether he endorses this "insult".
Sarma had triggered a row on Tuesday when he hit out at Kharge, saying that he was "speaking like a mad man" due to old age, after the latter put the onus on central agencies to probe the charges made against the Assam chief minister.
In a post in Hindi on X, Priyanka Gandhi said, "The kind of abusive and derogatory language used by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma against the Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, is utterly shameful and unacceptable."
She said Kharge is one of the most senior leaders in the country and serves as an enlightened representative not only of the Congress party but also of the Dalits and the marginalised sections of the nation.
"By insulting him, the BJP chief minister has insulted crores of people across the country," she said.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi must clarify to the nation: does he endorse this insult directed at crores of Indians?" she said.
The Congress on Tuesday accused Sarma of insulting party chief Kharge and demanded an unconditional apology from him for his "deplorable conduct" that it alleged reflects the "anti-Dalit mindset" of the BJP.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday had said the use of "derogatory language" against party chief Mallikarjun Kharge by Sarma was an insult to the entire SC/ST community, and the silence of Prime Minister Modi on the matter "is not his helplessness, but his consent".
"If the prime minister sees an attack on the dignity of crores of Dalits in the country and does not speak up - he is not only shirking his responsibility, but is also a party to that insult," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.
Gandhi said the use of "vulgar and derogatory language" by Sarma against Kharge "is entirely condemnable, shameful, and unacceptable".
"Kharge ji is a senior and popular Dalit leader of the country - his experience, stature, and prestige are unparalleled. Insulting him is not an insult to one individual alone, but also to crores of people from the SC-ST community in this country," he posted.
This, he said, just reflected the "old and premeditated mindset" of the BJP-RSS and was nothing new.
"Whether it is the insult to Babasaheb Ambedkar, belittling Dalit leaders, or personal attacks on representatives of the SC-ST community - the history of BJP and RSS bears witness that whenever a Dalit leader speaks the truth, they stoop to humiliate him," Gandhi said.
"This is their ideology, this is their true character and face," he added.
Posing a direct question to the prime minister, he asked, "Do you support Himanta Sarma's use of this language? Your silence is not helplessness, it is consent."
